Ptolemy describes the fjords? [gothic-l]

[keth at ONLINE.NO]

Hi Dirk!

>Very interesting. Can you tell what kind of shape Ptolemy/Jordanis had
>in mind when writing about the island of Scandza. Ptolemy also seemed
>to have reported about a peninsula, i.e. a projected arm of land in
>the north of Scandza, perhaps shaping the stem of the leaf.

Well, the "tuja" that is used in many gardens is the
"occidentalis", and it is an evergreen kind of "christmas" tree.
But it has no needles. The "leaves" (foliae) are not pricky
but are thick, and contain a lot of oil. If you put the
branches ono a fire, they will burn very fiercely, even
seconds after being cut off. I am not sure if this is the
one, but I think so. The photo in Brockhaus shows it,
and it looks exactly like these graden trees that are very
popular because the leaves stay green all year. (we probably
wouldn't call them "leaves" because they don't fall off,
aren't thin; but they aren't needles either)

Well, that is the "occidentalis", homeland America, and now
used in gardens, also popular in Germany. But the one the
Romans knew (e.g. Plinius) was a different kind, called
"orientalis" that grew in North Africa and had fragrant
and very light timber that was used for furniture.
(cedar? cypress? am not sure. Need to do some more research)

But if the "leaves" of the orientalis are similar to those
of the occidentalis (and the dictionary seemed to indicate that,
though not very clearly - it spoke of "shell-shaped" and
"pairwise opposite" leaves, whatever that means) But the
point is of course that I have also seen such trees, touched
the leaves (or "branches") and heaped tono the fire), then
I would say that the characteristic is the deeply incised
"grooves", because it looks like "fingers".

Well those "deeply incised grooves" can then, if my
idea is right, only be waterways that run far inland.
e.g. "Sognefjorden" that cuts 180 km into the country.
In fact, if you look at Norway in any atlas, it gives this
"torn" impression, as if it was the leaf of some "fern"
or other kind of archaic plant. Of course Iceland too
is like that. But since the Goths certainly never lived
in Iceland, and it is "Scandza" that Ptolemy describes
here, I'd say it has to be the whole peninsula.
Not just Sweden. Note that he also said "very large
island" and also "very long/elongated". That
does not fit Gotland.


Best regards
Keth


>
>> (from the Getica §16 : cetri, citri, caedri, cedri, coedri.)



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